251451 Overuse of antimicrobial household products: Environmental and human health effects

Monday, October 31, 2011: 5:30 PM

Rolf U. Halden, PhD , Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
  
     
Antimicrobial agents are recognized as lifesaving products of applied chemistry. Yet, their extensive use in disposable household products is known to cause widespread environmental contamination of aquatic and terrestrial environments. The speaker will provide an overview of the current state of knowledge concerning the fate and behavior in the environment of various persistent antimicrobial agents, most notably triclosan and triclocarban. Known environmental health and safety concerns will be discussed along with opportunities to meet public health objectives in an environmentally responsible and sustainable fashion.

Learning Areas:
Environmental health sciences
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
1) Give two reasons why consumers are motivated to use antimicrobial household products. 2) List 2-3 mechanisms of antimicrobial pollution of the environment, and describe the risks attendant to them.

Keywords: Antibiotic Resistance, Antimicrobial Drugs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have served as a member of the Food And Drug Administration, Center For Drug Evaluation And Research (CDER) Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee (2005) and am a Special Government Employee (10/2005 – 10/2015) for the FDA. I served as an invited panelist of the American Academy for Microbiology's panel on “Global Antibiotic Resistance: New Approaches to an Old Problem," Fondation Merieux, Annecy, France, October 2008. I am a contributor to the final report of this panel. I also have published broadly on antimicrobial agents and am the editor of the book: "Contaminants of Emerging Concern: Ecotoxicological and Human Health Considerations," 2010. American Chemical Society (ASC) Book Series. 620 pp. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. ISBN13: 9780841224964; eISBN: 9780841224971; DOI: 10.1021/bk-2010-1048
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

See more of: Beyond the hospital: Antibiotic resistance as a problem of the community environment
See more of: Environment